DOROUGH

Born in Arkansas, raised and educated in Texas, Bob then made a bee-line for New York and since 1952 has devoted himself to jazz performance, specializing in piano/vocals. He made his first recording as a leader in 1956, Devil May Care, having written the title tune three years earlier. The album caught Miles Davis’ attention and he turned to Dorough for lyrics to “Blue Christmas”. Miles also recorded Dorough’s tune “Nothing Like You” sung by Dorough, making him one of the few musicians with a vocal performance on a Miles Davis record.

In 1960 Tommy Wolf brought Bob to St. Louis to play the lead in A Walk on the Wild Side by Nelson Algren with lyrics by Fran Landesman. They began writing together and by 1966 Bob had recorded many of their songs in a TRO Workshop album in the words of FRAN LANDESMAN in the style of BOB DOROUGH.

Since the 1970s Bob Dorough’s five-subject ABC-TV series Schoolhouse Rock has entertained and instructed unsuspecting children. In the ‘90s he did three CDs for Blue Note Records. His 2007 CD Small Day Tomorrow featured twelve songs with Landesman lyrics. Bob received the Governor’s Artist of the Year Award from the state and was inducted into the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame by his native state. His trio represented the State Department and Kennedy Center as an Ambassador of Jazz and Blues on a one-month tour of thirteen cities in six different countries where they played some 22 workshops and concerts. He continued to perform, often for children, in jazz clubs and schools until his death on April 23, 2018.